Energy regulator Ofgem has approved a £3.4 billion electricity “superhighway” between Scotland and North Yorkshire in the biggest single investment for electricity transmission infrastructure in Britain.
The 311-mile Eastern Green Link 2 project will stretch from Aberdeenshire to North Yorkshire and will transport vast amounts of renewable energy between Scotland and England.
It’s part of a push to modernise the electricity grid to deal with greater demands placed on it by the green transition.
The new network capacity from the power line will carry enough renewable electricity to power two million homes, Ofgem said, describing it as a “superhighway”.
It will help England to benefit from offshore wind energy generated in the North Sea.
Construction is planned to start later this year, with the new connection due to be operational by 2029.
Lawrence Slade, chief executive of trade group the Energy Networks Association, said: “This is really welcome news from Ofgem. To move us forward towards clean power will require the biggest upgrade to the grid in decades.
“In turn these projects will unlock jobs, secure work for contractors and suppliers, and ultimately mean more secure energy supplies in the future. This is a crucial part of that jigsaw.”
The regulator also provisionally gave the green light to a £295 million funding package for a set of upgrades to the electricity grid in Yorkshire.
The project, which is run by National Grid, will involve building new substations and overhead lines to improve networks in the North East of England.